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Pennant Is Officially A Stag

The former Arsenal midfielder, who played for Indian side FC Pune City last year, was previously linked to Thai side Muangthong United before deciding to sign for the Stags.

Pennant was quick to acknowledge that it was the quality of his teammates and the ambition of the club that convinced him to sign for the Rovers.

“ It was the keenness of Tampines that sealed it,” Pennant said.

“It was also my teammates…to see how good the team was, it showed that the team wanted to move forward with the signings they have been making. It shows that they want to go big, they want to achieve [something] big”

Tampines coach V. Sundramoorthy was certainly excited with the high-profile signing but he also pointed out that even a player of Pennant’s calibre will need time to gel with the team.

Coach Sundram said, “He has been here maybe for about 10 days. He’s been training with us [but] he needs to get used to the way we play, to get used to the team, to the hot weather and everything.”

He also added that Pennant would be used moderately at the start of the S.League season.

“[We will be] building him up gradually, probably you won’t see him playing 90 minutes but starting with 30 to 40 minutes, eventually finishing the season stronger, being the same player [of] what we saw in Arsenal and Liverpool.”

Fans of Tampines will definitely be eager to see how the star signing fares in the first match of the season during the AFC Champions League qualifying round against Mohun Bagan on 27 January.